Full Moon skipped Duck Dodge No. 2 last week, which proved fortuitous as it was apparently the wettest race in Duck Dodge history, not to mention the thunder and lightning. Returning to racing action for Prom Night, Full Moon crew Caroline “Girl Next Door” Sneed, Art “Nuthin’ To Do” Teller, Michael “Mufubu” Medina, Don “Short Notice” Caffrey, and skipper John “Anchor Face” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start in a mild southwesterly.
Proceeding south on the first leg, the wind, which had been directly out of the south less than half an hour earlier, shifted farther and farther west and then just slightly northwest. This brought out the spinnakers on the “upwind” leg and Full Moon hoisted the giant Equalizer. Full Moon approached the buoy in a tight cluster of boats, most flying spinnakers and needing to jibe the nylon monsters as they rounded. Thankfully, everybody behaved and nobody so much as touched.
Heading east on a relatively short leg, the wind continued to clock around farther north. This meant spinnakers could not be flown north up the next leg and Full Moon was not prepared to rehoist the jib! The spinnaker came down successfully but Full Moon wallowed along for anxious moments with no jib while boat after boat cruised on by.
Finally back up to speed with the jib up, Full Moon gained on some boats but the damage was done with even old rivals Shogun and Fortis ahead and arch-rival Ignitor seemingly way out of reach. Then, while rounding the next buoy, the Buchan 37 Distance tried to cut inside and very nearly t-boned Full Moon, missing by inches. The skipper later apologized but the adrenaline levels remained high for while.
Proceeding south on the first leg, the wind, which had been directly out of the south less than half an hour earlier, shifted farther and farther west and then just slightly northwest. This brought out the spinnakers on the “upwind” leg and Full Moon hoisted the giant Equalizer. Full Moon approached the buoy in a tight cluster of boats, most flying spinnakers and needing to jibe the nylon monsters as they rounded. Thankfully, everybody behaved and nobody so much as touched.
Heading east on a relatively short leg, the wind continued to clock around farther north. This meant spinnakers could not be flown north up the next leg and Full Moon was not prepared to rehoist the jib! The spinnaker came down successfully but Full Moon wallowed along for anxious moments with no jib while boat after boat cruised on by.
Finally back up to speed with the jib up, Full Moon gained on some boats but the damage was done with even old rivals Shogun and Fortis ahead and arch-rival Ignitor seemingly way out of reach. Then, while rounding the next buoy, the Buchan 37 Distance tried to cut inside and very nearly t-boned Full Moon, missing by inches. The skipper later apologized but the adrenaline levels remained high for while.
The second lap was much less eventful but, heading toward the final buoy before the finish, who should appear close by but Ignitor! Full Moon caught up and then inched ahead but Ignitor had the inside position to the buoy and Full Moon could not quite break free so Ignitor rounded ahead. It was now a drag race to the finish line and the wind conditions slightly favored bigger Ignitor. Full Moon could not pull ahead to windward and so dove behind to gain separation to leeward and a straighter shot to the finish line. In the end it was extremely close but Ignitor barely held on for a rare victory over Full Moon.
While not a racing tour de force for Full Moon, the weather was gorgeous, and the beer tasted just fine. Win or lose, there are much worse places to be than on a sailboat on Lake Union on a fine spring evening.
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